The present invention relates to an electronic endoscope system configured to electronically observe and take an image inside a body cavity with an imaging device. In particular, the present invention relates to improvement of function assignment for switches, provided at an operating part of an electronic endoscope of this kind, to be operated by an operator during use.
An electronic endoscope system is provided with an electronic endoscope including an insertion part to be inserted into a body cavity, an operating part to be operated by an operator and, an imaging optical system provided at a distal end of the insertion part, a light source part configured to illuminate the inside of the body cavity with illuminating light being introduced into a light guide provided through the insertion part, and an image processing part configured to process image signals outputted from an imaging device so as to display the processed image signals on a display device such as a monitor.
At the operating part of the electronic endoscope, there is provided a plurality of electrical switches to be operated by an operator during use, in most cases, so that the operator can give instructions to the system, in his own hands during use, on adjustment of an observed image such as light intensity and image density and/or taking a still image.
An electronic endoscope system of this kind, for example, is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. P2003-180629. In the system disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. P2003-180629, when a function for adjusting (increasing and decreasing) a setting value is assigned to any of operation switches A, B, and C provided at an operating part of an electronic endoscope, for a predetermined time period after the adjusting switch for the setting value being turned on, the operation switches B/C are set to carry out not initially assigned functions, but functions as switches for increasing/decreasing the setting value corresponding to the adjusting switch turned on, respectively. In an embodiment described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. P2003-180629, the operation switches A, B, and C are given functions for freezing an image, adjusting light intensity, and adjusting R density, respectively. When the operation switch B or C is turned on, the operation switches B/C function as switches for increasing/decreasing a corresponding setting value to be adjusted for a predetermined time period.
The system disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. P2003-180629 is configured to illuminate an inside of a body cavity with white light and take a normal image of the inside of the body cavity illuminated with the white light. In recent years, an electronic endoscope system has been developed, which is capable of taking a fluorescence image of an inside of a body cavity by receiving autofluorescence emitted from a body cavity wall irradiated with an excitation light, as well as taking a normal image. In such an electronic endoscope system, it will be convenient if particular functions for fluorescence image observation are operable at an operating part as well.
However, if the number of push buttons provided at the operating part is increased so as to operate the particular functions for fluorescence image observation in addition to necessary functions for normal image observation, it will be impossible to arrange all the push buttons at convenient positions to operate, and therefore it will be hard to operate some of them.